![]() “And I was like, ‘You are f’ing right! I will, you know?’ “We were always encouraged to do that, and at Fox, when I just started reading lines and just made it part of just my flow and my style, George Greenberg, an executive at Fox at the time, was like, ‘Hey, I want you to say the odds for every main-card fight going forward,’” Anik said. When Anik told his new broadcast partners that he wanted to make the UFC betting odds a bigger part of pre-event programming and fight-night broadcasts, he surprisingly got no pushback. The real turning point came in 2011 when the UFC signed a landmark deal with Fox to give fight promotion – and the once-fledgling sport as a whole – its biggest platform to date. ![]() “I always thought we weren’t leaning on that angle enough – not necessarily in terms of dollars and cents and winning or losing - but just in terms of why does Vegas feel that there’s a -600 favorite in this fight?” “I think if you pare it down to the core, it’s another lens through which to look at these fights,” Anik said. To Anik, relaying that betting information before a big fight was a no-brainer. With the UFC headquarters in Las Vegas, fight promotion was always a little more willing to acknowledge betting lines on pay-per-view and cable partners such as Spike, Fox Sports and now ESPN. Once some of us got into (the) position where we could affect some change, I think we did.”Īfter Anik took his place cage-side, he helped champion that shift. I’ve been scratching that itch for 22 years. “I just feel like my whole generation, we’ve been betting on sports. The bets kept coming after he signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2011 to serve as a play-by-play man and host for the world’s most prominent mixed martial arts promotion. ![]() ![]() He placed bets when he was an ESPN anchor and an ESPN Radio host. He’s placed bets since he was an 18-year-old freshman at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. The current UFC commentator certainly does. Jon Anik always wondered why the sports world was so hesitant to acknowledge the obvious: Sports fans bet on sports. The below article is the first in an occasional series on sports betting and broadcasting. ![]()
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